Red Bird (Spring cont'd)

If you have been around me for any length of time, you have probably heard me say one of the following:

1. "I hate birds!"
2. "Ugh! [insert shudder] Birds gross me out!"
3. "Birds are disgusting!"
4. "Birds are so nasty!"

For lots of reasons, birds just seem really gross to me.  I think the overabundance of them on the A&M campus really solidified this for me in college.  There is nothing like leaving your car for a few hours and coming back to it covered in bird poop or fearing being nailed by bird poop as you walk across the parking lot.

Despite my strong negative feelings towards birds, I have been enjoying the birds in our back yard lately.  Even though they gross me out, I love hearing them sing!  We have been seeing lots of pretty birds in our yard for the past 6 weeks or so.  However, after I started taking pictures for the "Spring" post below, I was never able to catch one of the birds with my camera.  I was so disappointed!  Then, as we were leaving to head to Bible study on Monday night, I heard the bird and finally spotted it in the neighbor's tree just over the fence.

I couldn't decide if I should go back in and grab my camera or not.  I figured by the time I could get back outside, it would be gone.  We were ahead of schedule, and Michael encouraged me to get my camera.  I'm so glad he did!  Just as I walked back out, the bird flew away.  However, I finally spotted him in another tree in the neighbor's front yard.  He was further away this time, but at least I got a few pictures even if they aren't great.  I love springtime!

Michael has also been telling me about a bird that has a nest on one of our fence posts in the corner of our yard at the side of the house.  I hadn't seen it yet, but as I stalked the red bird, I also saw the pigeon mourning dove***.  I think this may be the same one that was here last year when we looked at the house.  It had a nest on a garden shelf on the back porch.  We had a hard time telling if it was real or not because it was so still.  We were told that it had built a nest there for several years in a row.  Since we no longer have the shelves on the back porch, I think it just had to move a little.  It's fun to know it's there, but I'm not going to lie.  I am so glad that it is not on the porch.  I would have struggled with the desire to chase it off.

Ten minutes later, after I had put my camera away and walked back out to get in the car, I noticed that a pretty blue bird had joined the red one.  I wish I had a picture of that to share!

***Thanks to Joey for educating this city girl!